A solicitor who sued GE Capital Woodchester Bank Ltd for libel was awarded £10,000 damages at the High Court last night. Mr Bryan F. Fox had claimed the company had given false written information about him to the Irish Credit Bureau Ltd.
Mr Fox, of Castleknock, Co Dublin, had claimed, through Mr Richard McDonnell SC, that he had an impeccable financial record and had never been in arrears.
The case centred on two applications by Mr Fox for credit cards from MBNA International Bank, which made inquiries to the Irish Credit Bureau about his financial standing. But GE Capital Woodchester, with whom Mr Fox had a leasing agreement, had written certain words and figures to the bureau, and this resulted, Mr Fox claimed, in his applications being refused.
GE Capital Woodchester admitted it wrote the matters in question but denied they were published falsely or maliciously.